!! Arthurian legend* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: ** In some stories, Gawain is Arthur's best knight and the ideal of chivalry. In others he's a flawed but principled hero. In other ones he's a boorish, impulsive AxCrazy Antihero. In ''others'', he's the Table's BoisterousBruiser, good-natured and hot-blooded, but also dim-witted, impetuous, and [[UnwittingPawn a frequent tool in conspirators' plans]].** Kay's furious, hot-tempered personality is explained away in ''Parzival'' by Wolfram von Eschenbach as a function of his job as Arthur's bouncer. Tons of people showed up to the castle every day claiming to be worthy knights when they really weren't, and it was Kay's job to sort out the bad ones from the good. This explains his really jerkish behavior when Percival arrives at Camelot. If that's the case, he would also be a MeanBrit long before Simon Cowell was born.** Is Mordred a rebellious and treacherous son or victim of fate?** Medieval romancers occasionally note that, though an ally to Arthur, Merlin is actually evil, treacherous and disloyal by nature. He does take several questionable actions over the course of the story.** The character that receives the most alternative character interpretation is Morgan Le Fay due to the inconsistent characterization of her. Is she genuinely driven by wrath towards Uther for having her father killed so that he could have her mother (which in turn begat Arthur)? Or is she a sociopath who simply uses this tragedy as a FreudianExcuse to cause havoc ForTheEvulz? Is she not evil and/or antagonistic in the first place as some works (e.g. Geoffrey of Monmouth's ''Vita Merlini'') imply? And what is her reason for taking her mortally wounded half-brother, Arthur, to Avalon to be healed?* AmericansHateTingle: One would have better luck trying to find a penguin in the Sahara than finding any Arthurian lore from Ireland that depicts Arthur in any fashion other than [[TakeThat a petty horse thief]].** Also worth mentioning Scottish Arthurian literature that depicted Arthur and members of his court as tyrannical and lecherous villains, and portraying Mordred's power grab as a legitimate action to reclaim his birth right.* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: What? There is no Lancelot in the original legends? Mordred is Arthur's nephew and there's practically no [[IncestIsRelative sister hanky panky]] going on? Arthur is a BadassNormal himself and his PowerTrio includes [[BoisterousBruiser Cai]] and a [[HandicappedBadass one-handed]] [[LightningBruiser Bedwyr?]] The realm falls because of plain old duplicity and treachery and not some [[BecauseDestinySaysSo convoluted fate?]] And where the heck is [[EnsembleDarkHorse Merlin?]]* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Half of the classic stories come from ''France'' of all places. [[JustifiedTrope May be in part because British culture ended up fleeing to Brittany among other places]] after the Anglo-Saxon conquest.** To a lesser extent, the Scots, who, while unrelated to Arthur directly (they're Irish and Pictish mostly, with a little bit of British down south) got on the bandwagon as well. They do, however, revise the stories from time to time to make it more favorable to their own national heroes (like King Lot).** [[MisaimedFandom And then there's the English]], but then, it is pretty common for countries to celebrate their deep past while glossing over all the invasions and revolutions in between.** The Germans love Arthur too, particularly the Grail legends.** Also interesting to mention that there is also one work of Arthurian lore, ''Melekh Artus'', written in Hebrew in 1279. The fact that Jews, who weren't exactly treated all that well during the times most Arthurian works were composed, also seemed to like the Arthurian legend (sans the grail stories) suggests that some ideals of the legends appealed to people outside its intended audience.* MartyStu: Sir Galahad** Sir Lancelot falls under this, too. He was added later by a different author (Chrétien). He [[RelationshipSue romances the queen]] (a plot point that previously went to Sir Mordred), is [[OneManArmy better than everyone else in combat]], and is [[FriendToAllLivingThings best buddies with everyone in the round table]]. However, these are all PlayedForDrama at various points in the story, proving once again that TropesAreNotBad.**** Tied into Lancelot, most adaptations will include a carbon copy of the character even if they choose a different name for the character. Some are good. Some are bad. All take time away from [[JustHereForGodzilla King Arthur.]]*** Although it has been speculated that Lancelot may in fact have been the hero of a folk tale of his own that was then absorbed into the Arthurian cycle (not unlike what happened to Tristram).* MemeticMutation: The BlackKnight. More significant as a [[TropeNamers character type]] than as an individual character. There was more than one but they're hardly ubiquitous in the medieval stories.* RecycledScript: The tale of Sir La Cote Male Taile is pretty much the exact same story as the tale of Sir Beaumains; a lowly servant becomes a knight and is given an insulting nickname by Sir Kay, they go on a quest with a damsel who mocks and degrades them endlessly, they wind up proving their worth and changing the damsel's view on them, and their true names are eventually revealed (Sir Beaumains = Sir Gareth and Sir La Cote Male Taile = Sir Breunor.) Both of these stories are told in ''Literature/LeMorteDarthur'', so a sense of Deja Vu is inevitable upon reading them one after the other.* RomanticPlotTumor: The original information on Arthur focused on his ability to destroy Saxon armies whole-sale in twelve battles before dying in PyrrhicVictory due to base treachery from his rival Mordred. Nowadays, the late romantic subplot of Lancelot dominates almost all retellings of the story, sometimes as the entire plot.* SignatureScene: It wouldn't be Arthurian legend without mention of Arthur pulling the sword out of the stone. The [[FinalBattle Battle of Camlann]] is another notable moment.* {{Woolseyism}}: Originally spelled "Myrddin," but changed to "Merlin" by Geoffrey of Monmouth because Myrddin sounded/looked too much like the French "merde" and he wanted to avoid naming his prophetic wizard after the French word for poop. It's worth noting that his audience was French-speaking Normans. In Welsh the ''-dd'' would be pronounced as ''-th''.

!!The film ''King Arthur''* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Much of what Cerdic does is open to this. His intentions are hard to read, and he doles out kindness and cruelty in the same gruff and joyless tone of voice.** A good example when he protects a female prisoner from two of his own men, killing one of the men when he objects, on the argument that "we don't mix with these people". Then, when she starts to thank him, he turns around and kills her as well. Was he really motivated by a theory of racial purity? Or did he simply realize that [[MercyKill he couldn't protect her for long?]]* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic: "Budget Meeting" is far more awesome than anything with that name deserves to be.* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Cerdic]], the warchief of the Saxons, is a brutal BloodKnight leading his forces across Britannia to [[RapePillageAndBurn destroy all in their paths]]. First seen amongst a burnt out village, Cerdic stops a Saxon from raping a woman simply because such a coupling would "water down" their Saxon blood and promptly kills the soldier when he protests before he orders the woman killed anyways. Cerdic promptly orders his men to rampage across Britain with explicit instructions to leave behind no man, woman or child who can even carry a sword. In the final battle with Arthur, Cerdic sends his men [[BadBoss on a diversion that will get them killed]] and roars they are ''his'' men when his son [[TheDragon Cynric]] protests the decision. During the battle, Cerdic viciously kills Sir Galahad after making certain Arthur can see the fight, having decided earlier Arthur is [[WorthyOpponent the only man worth killing]]. * EnsembleDarkhorse: Bors (BoisterousBruiser played by RayWinstone) and Tristan (ArcherArchetype with pet hawk and CoolSword played by Creator/MadsMikkelsen) are fan favorites.* HilariousInHindsight: [[Film/{{Avatar}} Tribal Blue Women fight against a better-equipped invading army.]]** Galahad saying he doesn't kill for pleasure "unlike some", and Tristan replying that he should try it someday because he might get a taste for it is rather funny, considering that Hugh Dancy (Galahad) and Mads Mikkelsen (Tristan) star in ''{{Series/Hannibal}}'' as Will Graham and Hannibal Lecter, respectively.* HoYay: Arthur and Lancelot are very close and have several intimate scenes that give off this vibe. Some argue that they have more on-screen chemistry than either independently has with Guinevere. ----